More Voice of the People, April 22, 2014

The cartoon on the April 14 Opinion page was a stunning example of the bias of the liberal media. It pictures an obvious dunce wearing a shirt labeled Fox Nation pointing to Brazil on a globe to locate Ukraine and in the next panel scribbling "Benghazi" from Africa to central Asia.

What a laugh. I would take the knowledge of the typical Fox News viewer over the knowledge of a low-information viewer any day of the week.

The cartoon would actually be even more "funny" if the deaths in Benghazi of four Americans, including our ambassador to Libya, and the coverup and lies of the Obama administration were not so serious

DR. ROBERT H. BARRON

Petersburg

Do women really

make less money?

Although I live in New Jersey, I am still subject to the political campaign rants I happen to catch on the Philadelphia TV stations regarding the race for governor in Pennsylvania. If you see what I see, you will notice Tom Wolf attempting to capture as many female votes as he can by stressing the worn-out nonsense about women only earning 77 cents for every dollar a man makes doing the same job.

This is 2014. Does anyone know any woman doing the same job as a man while making 23 percent less money? If that were the case, wouldn't most businesses just replace all men with women?

Any voter who falls for Wolf's fantasy deserves the government they get.

RON GRASSI

Atlantic City

Expand coverage

for smoking cessation

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. According to the American Heart Association, smokers have a significantly higher risk of developing many chronic illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and cancer. Yet thousands of New Jersey residents struggle to quit the habit.

Smoking isn't cheap. I'm not just talking about the cost of a pack of cigarettes. I'm talking about the $1 billion the state spends every year to treat Medicaid beneficiaries for smoking-related illnesses. The smoking rate among Medicaid beneficiaries is nearly double the overall rate.

Currently, most receiving New Jersey Medicaid benefits only have coverage for three out of the seven Food and Drug Administration-approved smoking-cessation products, and no New Jersey Medicaid participants qualify for counseling focused on smoking cessation.

By expanding coverage to include all seven FDA-approved tobacco-cessation medications across all health plans, as well as including cessation counseling, removing copays and educating the public about the options available, New Jersey could expect to save millions annually.

With the finalization of the state budget around the corner, it makes sense to expand smoking-cessation benefits in the Medicaid program. Not only could it help save thousands of lives, but it could help save tax payers millions of dollars.

DR. HOWARD LEVITE

New Jersey President

American Heart Association

Robbinsville

Church remains

committed to poor

Regarding John M. Crisp's April 9 column, "Pope fighting uphill battle on gospel of wealth," saying that Christians in general, and Catholics in particular, are too busy hoarding wealth to be concerned with those less fortunate than themselves:

The Catholic Church is wealthy, yes. But Crisp conveniently neglects to address the history and reasons behind that wealth. If it were not for its ability to stand up to secular powers, the Roman Catholic Church would have vanished long ago to become the puppet church or churches of various kings, emperors and dictators. And it wasn't just a matter of survival that drove the need for independence, but also the desire to protect the poor and powerless from that same oppression.

Today, the Roman Catholic Church is one of the largest providers of charity in the world. Catholic Charities USA, along with its subsidiaries, serves more than 10 million people in this country alone and distributed nearly $5 billion in aid to the poor in 2010 - much of it from imperfect Christians. The Roman Catholic Church is also the largest non-government provider of health care services in the world. The church manages 26 percent of the world's health care facilities, with 65 percent of them located in developing countries.

So is the pope fighting an uphill battle on the gospel of wealth, as suggested by Crisp? Probably - but it's not as steep a climb as he posits. Charity has always been at the heart of Christianity, and that heart still beats loudly.

DAVID P. DEAN

Cape May Court House

Lots of places sell

fresh produce in A.C.

Regarding the April 10 letter, "A.C. needn't be a food desert":

Atlantic City has plenty of places that sell fresh produce. I live in lower Chelsea, and there are at least three stores that sell fresh produce - Boom Market, Sopresa and a Chinese market. Also, during the summer there's an outdoor market that sells a lot of fresh produce, not to mention other places throughout Atlantic City.

So, to the writer of that letter, maybe you should visit some of the stores in Atlantic City before you assume things.

KATHY TURNER

Atlantic City

General Motors deserves

to go bankrupt again

When General Motors declared bankruptcy in 2009, the U.S. government stepped in with a $50 billion infusion of taxpayers' money. Last December, the U.S. government sold its remaining stake in General Motors at a loss of $10.5 billion of taxpayers' money.

Over the last few weeks, General Motors has been forced to recall 2.6 million cars due to a faulty ignition switch that resulted in 13 deaths. The company knew about this issue but did nothing to correct the problem in the name of cost savings. This is a part that cost less than $1 to produce.

If an American company such as GM cannot hold itself to a higher standard, it deserves to go bankrupt again. Therefore, a General Motors product will never sit in my driveway.

• In a letter to Voice of the People, which will appear in The Press of Atlantic City print edition and online.
• In a guest column.
• In an online story comment.
• In a letter, phone call or e-mail to your elected officials.

Press editorials are the opinion of the newspaper’s Editorial Board, which consists of the publisher, executive editor, managing editor, editorial page editor and various other contributing editors. We welcome opposing viewpoints.

If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor or Guest Column, click the